I Am Number Four

Aiming its sights at the same crowd that set the box office on fire with the Transformers movies, producer Steven Spielberg and studio DreamWorks put a science fiction spin on teen alienation in I Am Number Four. Mercifully there's no Michael Bay at the helm (although he's credited as producer); instead it's skilled shooter D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) who turns a script by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Martin Nixon into an exciting and often thrilling action movie.

Getting through high school and adolescence is difficult at the best of times, but when you're an extraterrestrial hiding out on Earth from a sinister race called the Mogadorians it's all the more tricky to blend in. Daniel Jones (Alex Pettyfer) is one of eight teenagers from the planet Lorien on the run from these baddies, and when the third is killed (a scar burns onto his leg to signify this) he takes off with his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) to start a new life in Ohio. Taking up the identity of John Smith, he soon goes back on the promise to lie low by enrolling at the local high school.

John falls for fellow student Sarah (Glee star Dianna Agron) and befriends Sam (Callan McAuliffe), a nerdy classmate who's the frequent victim of school bullies. As John begins to integrate into everyday life and find a sense of normality he develops superpowers, meaning staying off the grid starts to look impossible - particularly since suspecting Sam is quickly onto John's case. He's a pint-sized Fox Mulder convinced that aliens snatched his father years ago. "My life has been like an episode of The X-Files," he says at one point.

Credit should go to I Am Number Four director Caruso for mounting a slick and engaging popcorn movie with a consistent grasp on tone. It's played straight throughout; preferring to focus on John's internal conflict instead of over-loading on action and messily swinging for cheap gags (hello, Transformers 2!). Co-writers Gough and Millar launched the small screen's Smallville and had a hand in Spider-Man 2, so they're adept at working in this kind of genre territory. It does slip into well-worn clichés a little too often (by the end, the heroes literally drive off into the sunset!), but a strong anchoring performance from Pettyfer keeps you invested in John's plight.

It's a boys' show for the majority of the story as Agron's Sarah is sidelined to 'the girl' role, leaving Pettyfer and McAuliffe with the meatier dilemmas. Aussie up-and-comer Teresa Palmer makes the biggest splash as tough chick Number Six. Her screen time is limited, yet she's able to deliver a confident (and for long stretches wordless) turn that'll almost certainly lead to an expanded role if a sequel is made. I Am Number Four carefully balances spectacle and story, emerging as a competent start-of-the-year blockbuster.